Chapter 1 (sea level to 2,700 ft)
(From 1995 to 2007 we lived on Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska. Baranof Island is 100 miles long and 35 miles wide at the widest point. It is an extremely rugged island with very few roads.It is a very beautiful island with high, craggy peaks and ridges. The island is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on the West and Chatham Strait on the East. It is said that this part of Alaska is where the Rocky Mountains meet the Sea.
Some may ask why an article about mountain climbing in a marine themed blog. In answer to this question, I defer to the writings of HW Tilman about the similarities of the seaman and mountaineer.
"There is something in common between the arts of sailing and of climbing. Each is intimately concerned with elemental things, which from time to time demand from men who practise those arts whatever self-reliance, prudence, and endurance they may have. The sea and the hills offer challenges to those who venture upon them and in the acceptance of these and in the meeting of them as best he can lies the sailor's or mountaineer's reward."
From H.W. Tilman's book, The Eight Sailing/Mountain-Exploration Books. Page 21
On June 17, 2007, Bryan (14 years old at the time) and I decided to climb the highest peak on Baranof Island.
We negotiated with a bush plane company to fly us to the back of Green Lake where we would start our climb for the summit of 5390.
It was a beautiful, clear day as we prepared for take-off.
The area around Sitka is an ocean-island-mountain world.
It was a nice break from the the marine world to get up in the alpine life zone.
This was Bryan's first bush plane ride and I think he was a bit nervous.
Coming in for a water landing at the back of Green Lake.
After unloading our gear, I gave the plane a push-off to get him faced the right way.
I photo of Bryan, our gear, and the departing plane. It is a weird feeling to see the plane fly off.
After getting our gear organized and on our backs, we headed up the mountain.
Almost immediately we started seeing bear sign.
A photo of Bryan about half way up to our first camp at 2,700 feet. There were large areas of Salmon Berry bushes that had been flatted down by avalanches. Going up through them was very difficult as the branches were facing down hill. It was a real fight to make your way up through the vegetation. This photo was taken in a clearing where the going was a lot easier.
We finally made it to our 2,700 foot camp. You can see Green Lake in the background. It was not fun getting there but Bryan was a real trooper. We are up at the snow level.
Level ground found, we dropped our gear and started cooking dinner.
Me, stirring our freeze-dried dinner. After a full belly, we laid out our pads and bags and got some much needed rest. About the time the photo was taken, I started seeing thick clouds making their way from the ocean, up the river valleys towards us. We didn't take a tent because of the weight. I put my sleeping bag in a bivy sack and Bryan slept under a tarp.
The next morning we were shocked to look out of our bags and see that we were enveloped in thick, wet fog. Cold and damp, we broke camp quickly and headed up the mountain. After a few minutes we came upon several snow white Ptarmigans. As we got closer they flew off into the thick fog.
After trudging around in the fog and patches of snow, we were so excited when we climbed up thorough the fog into the bright, warm sunshine. Another hour and we were climbing up a snowbound ridge. There were no trails or maps into where we were going so route finding always takes up extra time. Being above the clouds was surreal.
Some interesting info about our climb:
We saw bear sign within minutes of getting off of the plane. We didn't bring a firearm because of the weight. Quickly I realized that with the thick brush that we were in, we would need to make a lot of noise so that we didn't startle a Coastal Brown Bear. With as strenuous as it was, quoting poetry or songs took mental power that we needed to conserve for concentrating on our footing and hand holds. I could only hold a loud conversation with Bryan for a short time before I was distracted by the steepness of the route or our quest for good hand and foot holds. I finally started to yell the simple words, HUMAN VOICE. Bryan thought I was goofy but I thought it was ingenious. It was two simple words that didn't take any thought to yell. Of course, the bear couldn't understand the meaning but if there were people in the area, (we never saw a soul) hopefully we wouldn't sound like idiots. Half way up to our 2700 foot camp we came across fresh bear tracks through the snow. Huge paw prints that ran a chill down my spine. At the end of our trip I took some photos of paw prints in the mud at our pick-up location which I will show you later.
By the end of the trip I was hoarse. Several more times throughout the climb we came upon fresh tracks. One set of tracks came right down the face of a snow field that was steep enough to slide. What the Bear was doing up above the tree line puzzled me. It must have been an inquisitive bear. It was lucky that it didn't get caught in an avalanche. Toward the end of the trip, about a mile from our pick-up point we found where a bear had devoured a deer carcass. I scanned around the area eerily as we swiftly left the area.
Those two simple words ended up making our trip a fun father and son experience instead of a nightmare.
Denalee wanted us to call her throughout the climb to let her know our progress. Realizing that we would probably not have cell phone coverage, I brought along my marine band 2-way radio. When we arrived at the 2,700 foot camp, realizing that we didn't have cell there, I called out to any fishing vessels in the sound on channel 68, which is a recreational channel. A salmon troller in Silver Bay answered and I asked him to call Denalee on his cell phone and tell her that we were alright. He gladly did so.
To be continued!
